story11365.xml

story11365.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2005-04-06

I live in the Netherlands. It?s this small country in Europe, pretty far from the US. But if you fly or sail to the west from our country, you?ll end up in the states, so in my opinion we are neighbours. Dutch people founded the city of New York back in the 18th century, and before the Brits took over it was called New Amsterdam.

I have visited the US regularly, and have been in New York City twice. I remember it well, the van full of young people driving into NYC. I had joined this group from Westland, MI, who were visiting New Jersey to do some work for their church. I stayed at a friend of my uncles, Bob, who happened to be a member of a befriended church. He knew a lot about NYC, and gave us the guided tour. The first attraction was of course the ?World Trade Center?. I remember Bob taking us to the square located around the two towers, and asking us not to look up. He pointed out a building that had been the tallest in New York, early in the century. Then he asked us to look up at the twin towers. It was very impressive. I remember getting my ticket for the sky deck and the elevator ride up. On top of the buildings we had an impressive view, although it was a bit hazy.

A couple of years later I took my wife to New York. It was a foggy morning, and at first all we could see of the WTC was its ?feet?. During the day, as we walked in central park, the fog cleared. We were only able to spend a day in New York City, because my niece who lived in Joliet, IL at that time, had her 5th birthday the next day, and we didn?t want to miss that event. Because it had been so foggy, and we hadn?t been able to see the city from New Jersey in the morning, we decided to visit the New Jersey ferry site at night. There was nobody there. My wife and I spent approximately half an hour alone opposite this huge city, looking at the most famous skyline of the world, which of course was dominated by the twin towers. An amazing day.

On September 11 2001 I was at work in Utrecht, the fourth largest city in the Netherlands. My wife called and told me she didn?t know exactly what was going on, but the World Trade Center was on fire. I turned on the radio, and at that point in time there was talk of a small plane hitting one of the WTC towers, and I thought of a ridiculous accident. But a few minutes later it became clear, after the second plane hit the second tower, that this was being done on purpose. Naturally I couldn?t get any work done anymore, and after some time I told my colleagues I?d be going home to be with my wife, who was 3 months pregnant at the time. As I was driving home for half an hour, I remember an overwhelming emotion coming over me, as I realised this was a huge tragedy, and a world changing event. When the reporter told that the first tower was collapsing I cried in the car. My wife was crying when I got home. She had watched the second plane hitting live on TV. I remember not knowing what to do; walking to the kitchen to get a drink, but starting to cry again. I suppose there was no time for a natural mourning process. No denial. Just anger and having to accept what you saw. As others have described, it was a surreal experience, seeing people jump from the buildings.

Now, almost four years after these events, it has become clear that the world has changed forever. Security has increased enormously, and American citizens don?t have the feeling of being safe in their own homeland anymore. Two wars have been a direct result of this event, and the end is not near in sight.

But it has strengthened the people of America, and strengthened the people of the west in general, making them feel stronger in their belief that freedom is very much worth fighting for. We value human life more than our enemy and we will fight for the freedom which is the most important pillar of our societies. I have always felt connected to the people of the United States, and after 9-11 the bond has grown. I hope and pray that all the taken measures will prevent a horrible event like this from ever happening again, because they have taken away some of the freedom we value so much.